MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER – Downtown Train

Outside another yellow moon
Has punched a hole in the nighttime
I climb through the window and down to the street
I’m shining like a new dime

The downtown trains are full
With all those Brooklyn girls
They try so hard to break out of their little world
You wave your hand and they scatter like crows
They have nothing that will ever capture your heart
They’re just thorns without the rose
Oh, be careful of them in the dark

And if I was the one
You chose to be your only one
Oh baby now, can’t you hear me now

Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
Where every night is just the same;You leave me lonely now

(Now) I know your window and I know it’s late
I know your stairs and your doorway
I walk down your street and past your gate
I stand by the light at the fourway

You watch them as they fall
Ooh, and they all have heart attacks
They stay at the carnival, but they’ll never win you back

Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
Where every night, every night is just the same; you leave me lonely

Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
Where every night, every night is just the same, all upon a downtown
Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
Where every night, every night is just the same, you leave me lonely

Will I see you tonight on a downtown train
Where all my dreams just fall like the rain, all upon a downtown train

MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER – Down At The Twist And Shout

Saturday night and the moon is out
I wanna head on over to the Twist and Shout
Find a two-step partner and a Cajun beat
When it lifts me up I’m gonna find my feet
Out in the middle of a big dance floor
When I hear that fiddle wanna beg for more
Gonna dance to a band from a-Lou’sian’ tonight

Well I never have wandered down to New Orleans
Never have drifted down a bayou stream
But I heard that music on the radio
And I swore some day I was gonna go
Down Highway 10 past Lafayette
To Baton Rouge and I won’t forget
To send you a card with my regrets
‘Cause I’m never gonna come back home

Saturday night and the moon is out
I wanna head on over to the Twist and Shout
Find a two-step partner and a Cajun beat
When it lifts me up I’m gonna find my feet
Out in the middle of a big dance floor
When I hear that fiddle wanna beg for more
Gonna dance to a band from a-Lou’sian’ tonight

They got a alligator stew and a crawfish pie
A golf storm blowin’ into town tonight
Livin on the delta’s quite a show
They got hurricane parties every time it blows
And here up north it’s a cold cold rain
And there ain’t no cure for my blues today
Except when the paper says: Beausoleil is coming into town
Baby let’s go down

Saturday night and the moon is out
I wanna head on over to the Twist and Shout
Find a two-step partner and a Cajun beat
When it lifts me up I’m gonna find my feet
Out in the middle of a big dance floor
When I hear that fiddle wanna beg for more
Gonna dance to a band from a-Lou’sian’ tonight

Bring your mama, bring your papa, bring your sister too
They got lots of music and lots of room
When they play you a waltz from 1910
You gonna feel a little bit young again
Well you learned to dance with your rock’n'roll
You learned to swing with a do-si-do
But you learn to love at the fais-so-do
When you hear a little Jolie Blon

Saturday night and the moon is out
I wanna head on over to the Twist and Shout
Find a two-step partner and a Cajun beat
When it lifts me up I’m gonna find my feet
Out in the middle of a big dance floor
When I hear that fiddle wanna beg for more
Gonna dance to a band from a-Lou’sian’ tonight

MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER – Don’t Need Much To Be Happy

Don’t need much to be happy
Four walls and a roof overhead
Books and food in my belly
Cool sheets upon the bed

A fire that warms up December
The sound of a thaw in the eaves
Sometimes it’s hard to remember
How tough we are to please

All in good time
Somehow I find
Days that still shine with light
All in good stead
I’m safe and I’m fed
With dreams in my head
Good night

The feel of my hand being taken
Driving at night all alone
The breeze on a warm summer evening
And coming home

All in good time
Somehow you find
Days that still shine with light
All in good stead
You’re safe and you’re fed
With dreams in your head
Good night

Don’t need much to be happy
A friend to soften a fall
And something to show for my labors
After all

I had to learn to be grateful
I had to learn how to see
Mistakes that might have proved fatal
Are gifts I now receive

MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER – Chasing What’s Already Gone

There’s a big white house on a leafy street
On a summer’s day of 1963
Station wagons parked in the drive
Dents in the fender and wood on the side
There’s kids and dogs and instamatic cubes squinting hard in the sun
Not just yet, but one day too
They’ll be chasing what’s already gone

You grow up tall and you grow up tough
Trying to never admit not feeling good enough
Until you find your passion and you find your way
Just trying to make it unscathed through every day
And it seems to happen nearly overnight
Life shows you who you’ve become
And there’s no more mystery in the fading light
You’re just chasing what’s already gone

Like the line that spells the far horizon
Moving with you as fast as you can run
Half your life you pay it no attention
The rest you can’t stop wondering
What you should have done
Instead of chasing what’s already gone

Saw my father in a dream last night
He was smiling and saying “You’re gonna be all right”
And this morning I stared back at myself
Feeling as empty as I’ve ever felt
But I keep on going and I hope I’ve learned
More of what’s right than what’s wrong
It’s ashes and roses and time that burns
When you’re chasing what’s already gone
Ashes and roses and hearts that break
I tried so hard to be strong
But maybe my worries were not my first mistake
I’m chasing what’s already gone

MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER – Another Home

There’s another home somewhere
There’s another glimpse of sky
There’s another place unlearned
And a face not memorized

There’s another quilt of green
Where the trees throw down their shade
There’s another way to lean
Into the wind unafraid

There’s another life out there
Beyond your quiet room
Use dead reckoning
The sky, the stars and the moon

There’s another storm to chase
There’s another bridge to burn
There’s nothing perfect here
Another lesson to learn

There were days I gave into losing
Empty spaces of my own choosing
There were nights I forgot to hold on
So I let go, I had to let go

There’s another home somewhere
That I close my eyes to see
I will find you there
You will know it’s me

By my shield and sword
By my soldier’s heart
We made it through the war
We made another start
Just beyond the trees
Not so far I swear
There’s another turn that leads
Towards another home somewhere

MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER – 10,000 Miles

Fare thee well
My own true love
Farewell for a while
I’m going away
But I’ll be back
Though I go 10,000 miles

10,000 miles
My own true love
10,000 miles or more
The rocks may melt
And the seas may burn
If I should not return

Oh don’t you see
That lonesome dove
Sitting on an ivy tree
She’s weeping for
Her own true love
As I shall weep for mine

Oh come ye back
My own true love
And stay a while with me
If I had a friend
All on this earth
You’ve been a friend to me

MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER – Grow Old With Me

Grow old along with me
The best is yet to be
When our time has come
We will be as one
God bless our love
God bless our love
Grow old along with me
Two branches of one tree
Face the setting sun
When the day is done
God bless our love
God bless our love
Spending our lives together
Man and wife together
World without end
World without end
Grow old along with me
Whatever fate decrees
We will see it through
For our love is true
God bless our love
God bless our love